Eating
by El t0mm1e
Summary: A Sonic/zombie fic where the sonic team must work together to survive the physical and mental stresses of the outbreak, or perish along with the rest of the fallen. In-progress, M for gore and violence. whoo...
1. Prologue

**Eating**

**Prologue**

Iron boots scraped down a baron street of lifelessness emitting an eerie echo. Some cars were parked normally while some scattered on the roads showing the element of something amiss. The great life form dragged a lead pipe as he proceeded down the dark street. Shadow stopped at an intersection and looked around finding him self alone, he pulled out a communicator handset.

"In position... cue to move now" he stated into the communicator

Shadow put the handset back on to his belt and walked over to a nearby car. He took three sharp breaths then cocked the lead pipe behind his head and swung at the cars side setting off its alarm.

"C'mon…" he gritted, as he laid another three swings at the car, smashing the windshield making as much noise as possible.

He stopped when he heard what he wanted, the screech of the un-dead ran through the buildings filling the empty shops and apartments of the city centre. The car's alarm continued to wail as he moved from the car and in to the middle of the street, waiting. Then they appeared, a swarm of living corpses charging towards him. There must have been at least two hundred individual hosts of this abomination; their faces are lifeless, only showing anger in their eyes and hunger for flesh from the bones of the living. Shadow stared back at the horde with his own dark crimson eyes as they proceeded closer. He remained perfectly still and calm as the infection started to pour out from all angles and different streets connecting to the intersection.

Shadow fell with the wave of zombies as they collided with him. He hit the ground and they clawed frantically trying to consume his being. Shadow looked up into the faces of death still calm and collected. He tilted his head in wonder analysing the distorted features and cold grey skin. The host made a swipe for Shadow's face but was stopped casually by his hand like dismissing a nuisance. It snarled dripping saliva and baring its grotesque teeth.

"Oh lovely…" he said disgusted wiping drool from his face.

The undead then made a lunge for his neck causing Shadow to wrap his hands around its throat keeping it at bay. The situation would look bleak for someone other than the ultimate life form, eventually his communicator piped up again with a bleep.

"Shadow, we all got out safely, report to back to us ASAP…" it announced with a female voice.

Holding the living corpse with one hand he reached down to the handset with his other.

"Understood, on my way" he replied putting it back on his belt. The zombies continued to scramble over him as he uncliped a button of a sheath next to his radio communicator. The infected on top of him inched closer to the flesh of his neck as Shadow struggled with one hand. Finally Shadow burst, kicking the infected of him into more zombies behind it. He stood in his pool of living corpses, surrounded by the rotten reanimated horde. Shadow countered the approached of an infected behind him and drove it's face into the ground shattering it like glass. More moved towards him as he readied a combat knife from the sheath on his belt.

He flipped it in his palm holding it upside down and slashed at the face of first, then spun around tearing at the abdomen of the next. The blood splashing on his fur fuelled him as he carved his way through the crowd. They fell like pins from Shadow's onslaught letting out distorted cries and gurgling noises as their second life ended. He flung one over his shoulder twisting off its arm as it fell, he stripped the flesh from the arm bone and plunged it into the head of the next opponent impaling its brain. Shadow grew more violent and imaginative with his kills as more and more fell by his hand. One infected seized an opportunity and glomped onto Shadow's back trying to bite his neck.

"Get off…" he growled from the pit of his stomach as he elbowed the corpse off himself.

In the short delay after the infected was struck, another two zombies lunged for him then more and more until Shadow fell into a big pile up. Shadow could not be seen in the pile of rotten bodies as they squirmed and clawed even at each other to get to Shadow's body. It went silent until a red glow illuminated from the centre of the pile up.

"Urrgh… CHAOS BLAST!" Shadow bellowed as he exploded in the mass of bodies. Limbs and different parts were flung from Shadow in a red mist that fell slowly. Shadow remained in his red circle, hovering with his arms stretched wide. Red aura wisped from his body and dissipated as this anger relaxed. He took one last look around at the rest of the infected that didn't get caught in the blast, and then pulled out a flawless red emerald.

"Chaos control…" He uttered and vanished in a blue aura leaving the other infected. As Shadow left the infected returned to roam mindlessly about the streets as though nothing had happened.

* * *

**Well i've finally got my second story up... (thank god)****... nah I actually had a good time thinking of ideas and writing this. Not one my best writing and sorry the prologue is a bit short ****but... what the hell.**

**I have some good ideas for this in later chapters, but I would greatly appreciate some ideas of your own if you have any just let me know.**

**_Yours El t0mm1e_**


	2. Chapter 1

**Eating**

**Chapter 1**

Shadow re-materialised dripping infected blood from his finger tips. He lifted his head to be greeted by a large shotgun barrel being wielded by a tall figure wearing a mask.

"Speak…" they commanded through the mask.

"It's me" Shadow replied.

He kept his aim steady on Shadow as he removed his mask and let his red dreadlocks fall.

"Guys… he's here…!" the red echidna called.

A blue hedgehog followed by a white bat and the rest of Shadow faithful team entered the room that looked like an old apartment with things scattered every where.

"You look a state" the red echidna mocked.

"not looking too good yourself Knuckles" Shadow spat back.

"Hey I'm the one with the gun here, you cheeky fucker" Knuckles

"Knuckles…!" Sonic interrupted

"Someone clean check Shadow everyone else, stay quiet and gets some rest we leave early morning, not having anymore this 'moving through the night shit"

"I'll be more than happy to check Shad-…"

"No…you won't, Shadow go to the shower, I shall send someone up to check you" Sonic again interrupted knuckles.

Shadow nodded and turned to walk up the stairs in the trashed apartment. Sonic snatched the large shotgun from Knuckles's grasp and shot him a disgusted look, Knuckles stared back with a 'what?' gesture.

Sonic turned and went through into the other room where the girls and younger members of the group where getting ready to get some sleep. Rouge was helping Cream, Cheese and Tails with their sleeping blankets while Amy was moving the scattered sheets and other trash for a space for her and Blaze.

"Amy..?"

The pink hedgehog turned from what she was doing to find Sonic kneeling next to her with Knuckles's shotgun.

"Yes..." she answered.

"... I'm just checking that everyone is ok through here, how are you holding up?"

"I'm fine... sort of... Cream and Tails are having a hard time trying to understand what's happening"

"I see..." Sonic looked over to where Tails and Cream where now lying in their sleeping bags.

"To be honest I don't either, I just hope we somehow get out of this mess" Amy admitted with doubt opening her sleeping bag.

"Hey...don't worry, we will pull through this" he said comforting her with his arm around her.

She looked up at him with hope.

"Really...?"

"All of us will, I promise"

"You really are doing well with taking charge of this" she smiled.

"Thanks, I'm trying" he smiled back.

"See you in the morning" he said heading over to the other side of the room.

"You too" Amy now got in to her sleeping bag feeling just that little bit more comfortable for once.

Rouge was taking off her boots and gloves as Sonic approached her.

"How have you found today?" he asked sitting in an old arm chair next to her.

"Well none of us got torn to pieces so... success!"

Sonic's amused huff let Rouge know he was thinking the same.

"Shadow really proved he can be relied on today with his diversion idea, it was very effective"

Rouge commented as she dropped her gloves on the floor next to her.

"Hmm... speaking of which could you go clean check him before he gets to sleep, just to be sure?" Sonic asked.

"Sure, I'll see to him now" she complied and got up to go upstairs.

"Thanks I just don't want a zombie Shadow to deal with..."

"...Now there's a scary thought" she added leaving the room.

Sonic sat in the room watching the girls and children sleep as Rouge left and closed the door dividing the two rooms. He propped the shotgun up against his leg and felt the faint heat in the barrel reminding him of the journey to the apartment block. There were only a couple of close calls, nothing to worry about. He looked down at Cream and Amy then grimaced as he rubbed his forehead. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

Upstairs Rouge followed the sound of water splashing off porcelain plastic. Walking into the small bathroom and glanced around noticing Shadow's combat knife in the blood stained sink basin and Shadow in the shower cubicle, she pulled her gaze away as he stopped the water running. Shadow stepped out of the shower now rinsed clean of blood. He reached for a towel from a rack next to the shower and looked at Rouge who was facing away from him.

"He sent you did he?" Shadow asked in his usual harsh voice while drying himself off.

"He did... so raise your arms please" she answered walking toward him.

"No need to be so formal" he complied putting his arms abreast, as if going through customs.

She analysed his arms and legs thoroughly for any bite marks or cuts.

"Still keeping your cold demeanour I see" Rouge stated going around him to check his back.

"Humph... they say during extreme situations you see the true side to someone"

"Then you are as genuine as they come, you haven't changed at all Shadow"

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Not really... from what you did today we need you just as you are, I must say, we wouldn't be alive if it weren't for you"

Shadow didn't see himself of that much value at this moment in time, he just thought he helped out.

"Well thank you Rouge but I think I could be doing more to ensure our survival"

"(sigh)... if you say so and you're clean by the way"

"Thanks" he thanked putting his arms down and turning around.

"See you tomorrow"

"You too" Rouge smiled as she left.

Alone in the bathroom, Shadow walked over to the small window overlooking the street. He looked down on the random infected scattered along the street, aimlessly wondering about in search of something to feed off. Shadow was becoming more and more curious as to why this infection had come about. He couldn't decipher whether it was deliberate, an accident or just random.

Meanwhile downstairs the girls and children were asleep, while Sonic and Knuckles were doing final checks of the doors and windows.

"Knuckles... make sure you wait for Silver before you lock the front door ok"

"Sure"

The door leading to upstairs opened as Shadow entered the living room, Sonic nodded to Shadow as a respectful greeting, Knuckles gave a half assed 'wassup' look to him as he walked past. Shadow put out his sleeping bag and put all his things next to his sleeping area, Sonic shot a 'what the hell' gesture to Knuckles about why he was acting like this. Knuckles rolled his eyes and turned to Shadow.

"Err... Shadow... just want to say thanks for what you did today and... I'm sorry for before"

"That's fine Knuckles, you're the least of my worries at the moment" replied Shadow coldly putting his combat knife under the pillow of the sleeping bag.

Knuckles smiled to Sonic to say 'are you happy?', Sonic just smiled back.

They all jumped as Silver come through the front door and locked it behind him.

"All downstairs is locked up and safe" Silver announced.

"Good work Silver, we should all get some rest now"

The three hedgehogs and echidna slept silently as the infected continued to plague the city outside.

Sonic and the others were lucky as more and more innocents fall victim to the consuming darkness throughout the night. It is going to take a miracle for them to get out of this city.

* * *

**Hi again, sorry I have been away for far too long just got caught up work and other things that I'm not going to bore you with.**

**Anyway next chapter should get gruesome again, hope you enjoy and let me know what you think.**

**_Yours El t0mm1e_**


	3. Chapter 2

**Eating**

**Chapter 2**

Shadow walked slowly through a meadow, lightly brushing his hand over the crops as he strolled. He took in a breath of the fresh air and let it out with a rush of tranquil. Cream joyfully ran past Shadow waving at him.

"Hi Mr Shadow!" she cheerfully called to him.

Shadow smiled and watched her play in the field with her little chao cheese. The sun was setting lightly casting an orange glow over the barley crops, the image put Shadow's mind at peace as he took it all in. He stopped walking and folded his arms to take in the atmosphere.

'Hey…' a voice called from behind him.

Shadow turned to see Rouge next him.

'You ok?' she asked.

He turned back and gestured towards Cream and cheese who seemed to be playing a game of tag.

'…bless her' he said.

'She looks happy…' Rouge stated taking hold of Shadow's hand.

Shadow looked down to her hand in his then back to Rouge.

'…I just hope you can keep it that way' she smiled weakly.

'What do you mean by that?' Shadow asked puzzled.

'Mr Shadow…Mr Shadow!' Cream called in the distance.

'You'll see what I mean…'

Shadow paused then looked down to Rouge's hands finding her flesh rotten and decomposing.

'Rouge what's hap-?' he looked up to her lifeless grey face and clear white eyes. Shadow let go of her hand and moved away from her unsure of what was happening.

He grew more and more unnerved as she sluggishly started to walk towards him. She dragged her feet and outstretched an arm towards him as more of her flesh rotted and turned to grey.

'Rouge tell me what is happening!' He demanded.

Rouge continued to stagger towards him.

'…save us' she whispered.

'Mr Shadow… Mr Shadow!' the same voice cried from the distance.

Shadow turned to look to the field to see Cream running towards him with blood running down her face from her eyes as she cried out in pain.

'Mr Shadow… help!' Cream cried out as her flesh too turned a dull grey colour.

Shadow didn't know what to do.

Rouge then tripped over her self and Shadow instinctively caught her in his arms before she hit the floor. Shadow froze as she looked up in to his eyes. Her eyes were so lifeless and her face showed no emotion. He watched her grotesque hand slowly reach up to his face and touch it.

The moment was short lived as her hand ignited from the contact. Rouge screamed as the flame moved up her arm and to the rest of her body. Shadow watched her burn in complete shock. The sound of her screams where unnatural and blood curdling to Shadow. Rouge's burning corpse then fell to the floor setting the field's crops alight. Suddenly the whole area was engulfed in flames and nor Rouge or Cream where to be seen but Shadow still heard their screams as the flames swirled around him in a towering inferno.

'…Shadow save us…'

'…help us…'

'…save me Shadow…'

'…Shadow…'

The voices echoed in his head until he closed his eyes.

'Shadow…Shadow wake up!'

He opened his eyes to see Rouge with her normal features tapping his face trying to wake him up.

'C'mon we're leaving' she told him.

Shadow sat up and looked around at the apartment then rubbed his forehead.

'I'm loosing it' he said out loud. Down the flight of stairs in the apartment block the rest of the team where packed up and waiting by the front doors.

'Okay do we have everything, is everyone here?' Sonic asked doing final checks.

'Wait Shadow isn't here yet' Amy announced, just then Shadow came down the last few steps of the stairs and walked past Sonic towards the doors.

'What kept you?' Sonic asked.

'Nothing… just a bad dream' Shadow replied.

Sonic looked confused.

'Shadow… nightmares?' Knuckles asked himself then turned to Sonic to see his reaction.

Sonic shrugged his shoulders.

'So what's the plan of action?' Shadow asked.

'We are going to make a dash for the exit of the city to the north as we are only a couple of blocks from the gates, and we are in the time window where the zombie numbers are low' Sonic informed.

'And the immediate horde?' Shadow asked pulling out his handgun and cocking it.

Sonic looked through the glass door.

'Only stragglers' Sonic stated.

'Good that's just what I wanted to hear' the said kicking the double doors open and firing at the first three infected.

Shadow went ahead and made his way into the street and the team followed with weapons ready. The team made a protective formation around the team members that were weaker or unable to combat the infected, having the stronger ones on the outside. This allowed the team to move as a unit and also protect their most vulnerable as they moved. Blaze from the rear of the main group immediately threw a fire ball at an infected, burning it to the ground. An infected made a lunge for Amy until it froze and levitated into the air. Silver's front quills stood on end as he held his palm to the zombie and then with his eyes closed moved the undead to hover right in front of Knuckles.

'Why thank you Silver' he thanked pointing his shotgun at the zombies head region. Knukles squeezed the trigger and took half of its head away in one shot. Silver then threw the corpse behind him distracting Shadow as he was reloading.

Shadow was picking off the infected with precise head shots as they advanced towards him, keeping them from approaching the rear of the group. The group continued moving along the road with Sonic and Knuckles in front of Tails and Cream followed by Amy and Rouge then Silver and Blaze. Sonic halted the team holding a fist in the air then tapped Knuckles and pointed to two infected with their backs to them.

'Go' Sonic quietly commanded to Knuckles.

Knuckles holstered his Shotgun, pulled down his mask and readied his shovel claws on his knuckles. He quietly approached the designated target from behind and put it to its knees with a kick to the back of its legs. The infected groaned as Knuckles pinned it down by standing on it leg and holding its shoulder. He smiled underneath his mask as he rammed the claws into his victims back. The infected weakly cried out as it hung on the two protruding spikes sticking out its body. Blood sprayed from its chest on to the pavement as Knuckles swiftly retracted his claws and let the zombie drop with a thud. It wheezed exhausted as its pool of blood around it grew bigger. Knuckles put his foot on its back while holding its head by its greasy black hair and decapitated the zombie by running his blades across the back of its neck. He held the dripping head up and stared at its face with its eyes rolled back. With a little chuckle he discarded it to his left then turned his attention to Sonic sneaking up on his zombie.  
Sonic didn't waste time and slide tackled the zombie taking out its legs. His helpless victim hardly had time to fall before Sonic finished it by ramming his combat knife in to its throat. With a gargle of blood the infected died.

Amy cringed hearing the noises of Sonic killing his foe. She hated having to see Sonic and the rest of the people she loved pushed to these extremes but it was all for their survival and for that she was grateful but devastated by the horror they must endure every day.

Tails looked to his left to Cream who was covering her eyes shivering in fear. With Cream being at the tender age of six, she found it the hardest to cope with the situation. Tails reached over to her and put his arm around her, he was growing tired of seeing her like this.

'Mom…?' she asked quivering.

Rouge, Amy, Silver and Blaze turned to look at Tails who had his hand on her back rubbing it gently.

'Don't worry Cream we'll soon be somewhere safe and you'll be able to see you mum then…' he assured her.

The others listening in exchanged glances at each other touched by the little scene, Amy looked like she was on the verge of tears.

Amy reached over to Cream.

'It'll be ok Cream, we'll be safe soon' She assured her.

'I'm not sure how much more of this I can take' Silver announced in a low tone.

'Don't worry Silver we'll be safe soon' Blaze told him.

'Safe… nowhere is safe, we haven't slept in a secure place in over three months!' Silver exclaimed

'Well at least soon we will be out of the city' Blaze pointed out trying to look on the bright side.

'And what about the infected outside the city, how is that any saf-'

'…Silver I don't know anymore than you do but I do know that we are here now and we need to make the best of it…so can you be a little bit more optimistic' Blaze interrupted getting more and more agitated by Silvers whining.

Silver was taken back by Blazes outburst but noticed the point she was making. He and the rest of them need to stay focused and alert in this situation or they are all going to die, complaining about the situation is not going to help.

'Ok Blaze I'm sorry, lets get the hell out of this hellhole'

Sonic ordered the group to begin moving again with a hand signal. Sonic and Knuckles regrouped with them at a 'T' junction in the road, Sonic stood in front of the team checking they where all there.

'Everyone ok?' he asked and they all nodded in reply. Shadow soon rejoined them and took a few steps into the junction looking down the streets.

'Where to now?' he asked Sonic

'This left on this 'T' junction will take us to the gates of the city'

Shadow looked down the street to find it empty, all the zombies where lying motion less on the floor.

'Looks like we have a clear shot for the gates, lets move' he commanded to the team who followed him down the empty street.

Rouge was pleased the exit of the city was close but she noticed something about the dead infected on the floor, they all had bullet wounds on them.

'Oh thank god we are out of here' Amy admitted in relief.

Rouge knew something was wrong, it was too quiet.

'Errm guys-…'

She was cut off by a single gun shot in the distance and the group paused to listen, until Shadow was struck in the chest by flying bullet.

'Shadow!…' Rouge gasped

'…Everyone down behind something!' Sonic yelled as Shadow fell to the floor.

Suddenly waves upon waves of bullets were volleyed at them. They were lucky enough to take cover in an alleyway not to far away from them before anyone was hit. Sonic sat at the edge of the wall trying to see who was shooting at them or if he could see Shadow but the whizzing bullets made it hard to see anything.

'What the hell is going on?' Silver shouted

'We were so close why did this have to happen?' Amy cried sitting down against the wall of the alleyway.

'Guys just calm down, we may still get out' Blaze assured trying to hold the morale in the group, but her attempts were futile. They all knew that getting out of the city now was going to take a miracle of some kind.

* * *

**Hello all, sorry I havn't updated in a very long time, I have been busy sorting things out with my new job so... again apologies.**

**Anyway hope this was more exciting than the last chapter, please let me know what you think.**

_**Yours El t0mm1e**_


	4. Chapter 3

**Eating**

**Chapter 3**

'Is Shadow ok' Tails asked Sonic.

'I don't know…Shadow!Shadow can you hear us?' Sonic called to Shadow who lay motionless in the street.

'Shado-…' Sonic tried to call again as a bullet hit the edge of the wall he was behind, spraying debris in his face.

'Silver can you pick him up and bring him over?' Sonic asked.

'That will just make him an easier target… he'll be torn to pieces'

'Fuck…!' Sonic cursed.

Meanwhile Shadow very weakly opened his eyes to see the people firing at them were soldiers lined up behind barriers and garrisoned in the small gatehouses at the exit of the city.

'Fuck…!' Shadow cursed in disappointment. He really thought he could get himself and his friends out of this hell hole of a city, the chances of that happening now were very bleak. He ran his fingers into his chest fur to find a small hole oozing with his blood, Shadow finally realised something.

He can die.

Shadow was on such a kill streak and got so overly confident he had forgotten his mortality.

'maybe its my time…' he thought but then looked to his right to see his loyal team of friends in a frantic state, lost and unsure of what they should do.

'…No…not yet' Shadow weakly got to his knees. He held his chest as the wound sent shooting pains through his body.

'Guys look, Shadows moving!' Tails exclaimed pointing in his direction. The group's attention turned to Shadow struggling to his feet.

'What if he gets hit' Blaze pointed out.

'We need to help him Sonic!' Rouge demanded.

'How… what can we do?' Sonic wasn't used to not knowing what to do in a situation, all he could do was watch Shadow limp feebly towards them…kind of like a zombie.

Behind the city gates a soldier had stopped firing his weapon and pulled out his radio.

'Commander…'

'Yes Corporal, what's the situation?' answered the commander on the other end.

'We have located a small group of survivors at the northern gates of the city. What is the protocol for survivors in the city?'

'There are no survivors… we cannot chance the infection leaving the city. The use of heavy armour is authorised if needed, the infection must stay contained in the city understood?' commanded the commander in a dark tone.

'Yes sir, understood'

'Good job Corporal, report back to me if you come across anything else'

The Corporal put his handset back on to his utility belt and turned to his men.

'Get those grizzly tanks over here, flush 'em out from the buildings!' the Corporal yelled and three huge heavily armoured tanks rolled up to the gates of the city in a line.

Knuckles tapped Sonic's arm and pointed to the gates taking his attention from Shadow.

Sonic's face dropped staring at the three behemoth vehicles. For once Sonic had doubts about a happily ever after for this situation.

'FIRE!' yelled the Corporal, and the three tanks opened fire on the buildings. Sonic barely had time to alert the others as the building they were hiding behind exploded in a fireball above their heads.

Acting on instinct, the team made a dash out into the street to have more bullets volleyed at them, not one of them noticing they had left Cream behind but Shadow. The top half of the building started to fall with Cream underneath. Shadow made a desperate lunge and just managed to grab cream and get clear of the falling rubble from the building, but now they are trapped from the street and the others.

'CEASE FIRE! That should keep them for a while, good work boys' the Corporal announced to the soldiers aside the tanks.

The tanks stopped firing and the soldiers reloaded their weapons then resumed guarding the gates of the city.

Dust lightly settled over Shadow as he lay on the floor protecting Cream. He shrugged some rubble off his back and off Cream and got up to dust himself down. Shadow turned to the enormous pile of brick, concrete and metal that now blocked the passage into the alleyway. He could easily chaos control to the other side but then he wouldn't be able to take cream with him and what good will it be anyway, once he is on the other side he will just be mashed up from the guards at the gates.

'Sonic, Rouge, anyone where are you?' Shadow asked trying to reach out to someone on his radio.

'Shadow this is Rouge, we have just managed to get clear of the guards… Where are you?'

'I'm trapped in the alleyway with Cream, I'll regroup with you two blocks down the street from here ok?'

'Ok Shadow but… are you going to be ok moving around?' Rouge asked concerned

'Me and Cream will be fine, just make sure your group is surviving… Right?'

'Yeah…' Rouge's ears lopped in depression as she put away her radio.

'They'll be fine' Blaze assured her placing her hand on Rouges shoulder.

Shadow turned behind him to see Cream cowering in the corner of the alleyway. This is not where she should be, in this state. She should be happy, playing and enjoying her life but no… She is dragged into this nightmare with all of us.

Shadow knelt down and wrapped his arms around Cream who was in a state of shock.

'It's alright Cream, I'll keep you safe…ok?' Shadow found it difficult to make is voice comforting but Cream looked up to his face where he managed a soft smile.

'I know you will Mr Shadow… I'm just really scared' Cream whimpered shaking in his arms, then his nightmare and visions from the previous night came back.

The image of Cream blood drenched and combusting in front of him flashed in his mind.  
Shadows face went blank.

'Mr Shadow your hurt' Cream pointed to his blood stained chest.

Shadow examined his wound.

'Bah… don't you worry one little bit, I'm a tough cookie like you' he smiled holding her hand.

'…let's get you out of this mess'

Shadow managed to rise to his feet and peered down the long alleyway. It looked empty but that didn't mean it was safe.

'Stay close' he informed Cream.

She nodded and held his hand tight as they made their way down the passage.

Sonic and the others were slowly making their way down the street to where Shadow said they would meet up.

'Well… at least we don't need to worry about zombies for a while' Knuckles pointed out stepping over the numerous zombie corpses.

'True that… but I'm starting to get really hungry though' Silver also trying not to trip over all the bodies.

'Me too, Sonic have we got any food left?' Amy asked.

'Sorry Amy we're out' Sonic replied

'Ohft… what if we starve to death?' Amy moaned

'I don't think we will, look!' Blaze pointed the entrance of a super market.

'Jackpot…' Silver sighed with relief.

'Right team grab as much as you can but nothing you have to cook and be quick… we don't know where the zombies might be ok' Sonic ordered.

Knuckles waved his hands in front of the sensor to try and open the front doors to no avail.

'The grid must be out, Silver help me with this door' knuckles asked. Silver took one side as Knuckles took the other and pulled on the sliding doors until they were agape for the team to enter the store. It was a large super market with many aisles of food, drink and other groceries.

With out wasting time the team set about grabbing a trolley and venturing through the store and taking what they could.

'He he… look out Amy, coming through!' Tails yelled charging past her with his trolley.

'Urgh… right, come here you little pest' Amy mocked giving chase to Tails.

'Guys keep it down' Sonic ordered keeping cautious of the surroundings a little too much.

'C'mon lighten up Sonic, we could all do with chill out from time to time' Knuckles taking the more optimistic view on things, but remaining naïve as usual.

Sonic rolled his eyes at Knuckles' stupidity and carried on into the super market keeping an eye on his friends.

Tails childishly threw various items from his cart at Amy who continued to chase him up and down the aisles while Blaze and Silver filled baskets with canned drinks and food they could salvage.

Sonic approached Blaze still keeping watch of the others.

'Is it me or does this feel a bit…easy?' Sonic asked Blaze.

'Hell, I'm just making the most of it while we can' she answered placing soda cans in her basket.

'Hmm… and it's wrong, I can't believe it… me looting' Sonic shook his head, still trying to stay in some kind of state of normality despite the catastrophe they are in.

'Sonic you have blood running down your face, if that isn't gonna wake you up then I don't know what will' Silver said waking past him down to the next aisle.

'He has a point'

'I know Blaze I'm just not ready to accept the whole worlds gone to pot, it helps me sleep at night' Sonic said grabbing a can of coke and opening it.

Blaze looked at him with a dumbfounded expression.

Sonic took a swig of the soda then shouted to Knuckles

'Knuckles tell Amy and Tails we are leaving now!'

'Sure!' Knuckles replied

Sonic turned back to Blaze

'Let's go…'

'Okay… Silver lets go, we're leaving!' Blaze had no reply

'Silver… C'mon we're going now!' the silence remained

Sonic grew a frown of concern

'Silver!' Still no reply, Blaze looked at Sonic to say 'this is bad'

'Follow me!' Sonic ordered heading down the many aisles.

* * *

**Hi everyone, hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I will try to up the update speed, as usual R&R.**

**Yours _El T0mm1e_**


	5. Chapter 4

**Eating**

**Chapter 4**

The supermarket door opened as Tails dragged his filled shopping bag to Amy, Knuckles and Rouge who waited in the street outside of the supermarket entrance with all the other bags of supplies they had salvaged.

'What's taking Sonic so long, we need to keep moving' Knuckles complained folding his arms.

'He told us we're leaving, where is he?' Amy pondered then turned to Knuckles, he looked annoyed but also worried as he kept very aware of the surroundings.

'Knuckles…?'She asked.

'Something is wrong' he stated scanning the rooftops.

'What do you mean?'

He paused for a second.

'I dunno...'

Amy pulled a quizzical face at him.

'Rouge, help me with this bag please' Tails asked and Rouge walked over to help him with the weight of the bag.

'How much do you want Tails, I mean C'mon this is ridiculous' Rouge scolded.

'I know, sorry' The little fox apologised.

Amy was now very concerned, Sonic had been gone quite some time. Knuckles then turned to her.

'Did anyone notice that these doors weren't working when we first went in' he pointed out as they closed behind Rouge and Tails.

Amy's eyes widened as she realised.

'Oh my god…'

Meanwhile, Shadow and Cream continued to walk down the empty back alley until they got to a tall fence blocking their way. Shadow tried opening the chained door on the fence.

'Give me a second, I'll get this open' He said as he pulled out his combat knife and started cutting through the wire fence.

Cream started walking about the alley in boredom.

'Stay close Cream' Shadow's tone sounded like a parent talking to a child.

Cream observed the old posters that had been put on the walls next to random spots of graffiti. The posters we're tatted and torn but you could just make out the advert it portrayed. Then a sound caught Creams attention, a faint murmuring coming from a couple of trash cans next to the posters.

'Cream c'mon. I've nearly got this open'

She knew she shouldn't but curiosity made her peer over bins to find out what is was. She peered down to find a little chao murmuring in sleep. Cream smiled as she watched the chao stir.

'Shadow, Shadow look what I've found!' she called.

'What?' Shadow asked as he continued cutting at the fence door.

Cream moved the bins and picked up the chao and started walking back to Shadow.

'Aww look at you' she cooed.

'You look just like Cheese, don't you'

Shadow put his knife away and turned to Cream holding the chao in her arms.

'Is that a chao… where did you find it?' Shadow quizzed

'Over by those bins, it was just sleeping, isn't he cute can I keep him please?' she asked like kid that's found a stray dog.

'Err… I don't know…' just then the chao woke up its eyes a washed over colour of grey lifelessness.

Shadow's eyes widened as he saw the infection in the chao

'Cream drop the chao!' Shadow bellowed as he reached for his side arm. But Shadow was not quick enough, the chao snarled and bit down fiercely into Creams arm.

Cream screamed in agony as the chaos teeth sunk into her flesh.

In one powerful swipe, Shadow punched the chao off of Creams arm and shot it repeatedly until it ceased to breathe.

Shadow put his pistol away and quickly turned to Cream, her face was pale and she started shaking in shock. Shadow caught her as she fell and brought her into his arms. She whimpered as the pain pierced through her and her blood ran down her arm and onto her dress.

Shadow started to panic thinking of what to do, he pulled out the cloth from the bottom of his pistol holster and pressed it down on to Creams arm. He rocked her back and forth as he tried to stop the bleeding.

'Shsh… don't worry its okay' he said trying to comfort her. Now what was he going to do, with Cream infected it was inevitable she was going to die.

'I'm sorry… c'mon hang in there Cream' Guilt setting in.

'I should've kept my eye on her' he thought to himself

'I'm so sorry Cream' he started crying and both his tears and hers fell on her bloodstained dress.

Then his heart skipped as he heard a familiar groaning coming from down the alleyway.

'Oh shit' Shadow saw a horde of the infected coming towards them and he still wasn't through the fence.

He placed Cream up against the fence and got out his knife and continued sawing and cutting at the fence but no luck. He turned his head to see the horde getting closer.

'Fuck…' he cursed and pulled out his pistol.

He shot at the lock but it was still shut fast.

'Arrgh c'mon…!' Shadow growled infuriated as he shook the lock in his hands.

He swivelled his head again to check where the zombies where, they were only a few metres from them.

Cream began crying.

'Shadow… help!' she cried as she watched the monstrosities slowly advance towards her.

'Help… can anyone hear me we're trapped… Help!' Shadow called out trying to get anyone's attention.

The silence dawned the only options Shadow had. He pulled out his red chaos emerald and held it with his pistol thinking what to do. He can either chaos control away and live but leave poor Cream behind even if she is infected, or he could finish both their lives and escape this hell they must endure.

An infected bent down and started grabbing at Cream on the floor.

'Shadow… please save us!' she screamed in fear.

An infected also grabbed his shoulders and bared its teeth to bite Shadow.

'No!' he rammed his elbow into the infected and shoved the pistol into its mouth.

'Fuck off…' he boomed and fired into the zombies throat, a fountain of blood erupted as the top half of the zombies head popped into the air. Switching into combat mode, Shadow charged for the infected attacking Cream.

Cream struggled to get free from the zombies claws as she kicked out furiously. Shadow approached her and leapt into the air. She watched in awe as his boot collided with the zombies jaw with an almighty crunch. Shadow landed and hammered his fist into another zombie on top of Cream then fired his pistol at the on coming horde.

Shadow continued to rip into the huge crowd of infected like a machine, he was not going to let Cream die, not here. He slid the ammo clip out from the bottom of his trusty pistol to find only four rounds left in the cartridge.

'Damn it, looks like it's going to get messy then…' he traded his pistol for his knife and started tearing through flesh and rotten organs keeping the dead at bay from Cream.

Cream watched in horror as entrails were thrown into the air to splash over the concrete floor. Her head spun as her vision hazed. Everything became a blur until she slumped onto her back. Her breathing increased and her fingers cringed in pain as the infection worked its way through her fragile body.

'Shadow!' she shrieked in fright.

Shadow suddenly stopped his onslaught and turned to Cream. It was happening.

Shadow's heart sunk as he watched Cream twitch in a fit as she mutated, her cries becoming gargled as blood spluttered from her mouth.

'No Cream ju-' Shadow fell as the horde dragged him to the ground. Shadow grew infuriated as things started to go from bad to worse.

'Mommy!' Cream continued to cry out her skin turning a disturbingly pale shade.

Shadow desperately batted the deformed faces with his fists that surrounded him. He looked to find the infected now clawing at Cream like animals.

'Shadow, help they're on me!' she cried her voice growing weak.

'Oh god please…' Shadow now exhausted couldn't go on much longer fending of these monstrosities. With a deafening crack, the fence door flung open with a dark figure standing in its wake. Shadow watched as the being holding a large shotgun stepped into the chaos.

'Help her, save the girl!' Shadow ordered pointing to Cream being attacked by many infected. The figure disregarded Shadow's wish and shot the zombies off Shadow and grabbed hold Shadow's wrist.

'No…' Shadow knew what this person was going to do as he started dragging Shadow out from underneath the pit of zombies.

'No… save her, save Cream, what are you doing!' Shadow protested, but the saviour continued through the fence door and closed it behind him.

'You fucking idiot…' Shadow broke free from the person then looked up to find a stocky male bloodhound suited in a police uniform.

Shadow bewildered stared into the officer who donned a badge with the sergant chevrons.

'I'm sorry, there was nothing you or I could do for her…' he said coldly.

'How the fuck do you know that!' Shadow spat back. Shadow could feel himself slipping slowly into morbid despair. It was rare to find Shadow like this, his tears fell as he started to lose control.

Creams bloodied hand grabbed hold of the wire fence.

'Cream!' Shadow exclaimed as he knelt down and took her hand and held it tightly.

Shadow couldn't see Cream at all through the amount of zombies piled on her, but her distorted cries and sobs were clearly audible.

'Cream, forgive me… I didn't want this to happen, I'm so sorry' Shadow wept as he held her hand, the sound of clothing ripping echoed down the alley.

'Why…why you…' Shadow choked as he buried his head into his free hand. Then crunch. Cream let out the most blood curdling scream Shadow had ever heard. The infected were now making their way through her flesh as she continued to scream. Her hand shook violently in Shadow's, he watched as the blood spattered up her arm and on to his gloved hand. His face dropped in shock, it was becoming too much to bare. He couldn't imagine what she must be going through.

The sergeant walked over to Shadow and sympathetically put his hand on his shoulder. Shadow looked up to the dog's solemn face.

'Don't put her through more…' his voice soft but commanding at the same time. He let go of Shadow's shoulder and took a few steps away.

Taking in these words, Shadow reached for his pistol. He took a deep breath and pulled on Creams arm until her head and torso was clear from the monsters. She lay there face down, clothes torn and blood drenched.

She mustered the energy to peer up to Shadow, her face mutilated and battered it was difficult to recognise it was Cream. Still holding her hand he aimed the gun to her head, his face racked with sorrow. He is never going to forgive him self from this, but it needs to be done.

Bang. Creams hand fell limp in Shadow's. Shadow's mind seemed to stop working as he froze on the spot. The zombies quickly dragged Creams body away in to their midst.

'I'm very sorry for your loss…' The sergant said from his pulled down police hat. Shadow remained as he was.

'…you did everything you could for her…' The officer offered his hand to Shadow.

* * *

**Hi everyone, another chapter, hope you enjoy remember to R&R**

**And sorry to the Cream fans...**

_**Yours El t0mm1e**_


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